As such, his father stole cotton from the textile factory to sell on the black market for extra income to feed his children.

Mushegh was arrested and given 10 years of hard labor cutting trees in Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia.

Thus, Frunzik and his siblings grew up with their mother, Sanam, who is credited with giving the actor his sense of humor.

[7] In that same year, Mkrtchyan had his first film debut with a role in the film In Search of an Addressee [ru], it was also during this time period, at the age of 28, Mher Mkrtchyan met and fell in love with his future wife, the 18 year old Donara Pilosyan [ru], also an actress.

[7] Following that experience, he was given parts in Armenian and Russian films that were to become iconic, such as Why is the River Noisy in 1959 and Kidnapping, Caucasian Style and Aybolit-66 in 1966.

[7] From the late 1960s and on, Frunzik Mkrtchyan starred in films that would later on become classics of Armenian and Soviet cinema, such as Yerankyuni ("Triangle") (1967), Menq enq, mer sarere ("We and Our Mountains") (1969), Mimino ("Hawk") (1977), Hayrik ("Father") (1973), Nahapet ("Patriarch") (1977), Ktor muh Yerkinq ("A Piece of Sky") (1980), Hin oreri yerge ("The Song of the Old Days") (1982), Mer mankutyan tangon ("The Tango of Our Childhood") (1985).

[13] It is said by family members that during his last days, Frunzik Mkrtchyan was depressed by the illness of his son and death of a close friend and actor Azat Sherents.

[5] When he died in 1993, thousands of people attended the funeral and burial of their beloved actor at the Komitas Pantheon, located in the center of Yerevan.

[16] Frunzik Mkrtchyan: India, a 2021 documentary explored Mkrtchyan's connections with the Bollywood cinema of India, where he had worked in films such as Adventures of Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves (1980) with Indian actors Dharmendra and Hema Malini who alsp feature in the documentary.